Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

For Miranda Short and her 5-year-old son Thursday will be a great day, as it is the day they will break ground on their future home.

Short’s house is the final build on Lincoln Street in Winchester, which is the result of a partnership between the city and Habitat for Humanity of Madison and Clark Counties.

The groundbreaking will be at 8 a.m. and will also feature a breakfast hosted by Habitat and the local chamber of commerce. The event will also have prayers and words from a guest speaker.

Short, a Winchester native is no stranger to hard work. She paid her way through a private high school and graduated early.

After graduation, she moved to Louisville and then back to Winchester, spending time with either her mother or father.

While pregnant with her son, most of her family moved to Indiana. Short joined them but returned to her hometown soon after.

“They have had some really challenging situations with their housing and were not sure where to go,” said Amanda Dube of Habitat for Humanity of Madison and Clark Counties. “She found herself with a young child and was trying to figure out where she could go.”

Thankfully, Short found the help she needed.

“What I love about this is that Clark County Community Services (CCCS) have played a huge role in helping her get on her feet initially. They helped her find a place to live and get herself together,” Dube said.

Mary Jo Hunt-Hatchett, a case worker with CCCS,  guided Short through the process of finding housing and other forms of assistance.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Short was forced to leave her place of employment for personal reasons but soon found fulfilling work cleaning the units at an apartment complex.

A year later, Short struck out on her own and founded her own cleaning service that specializes in residential dwellings.

With her life on stable ground, Short reached out to Hunt-Hatchett about Habitat’s home-buying program. Short was then put in touch with Dube and began the application process.

Short found out she had been approved for a home early in January. Hunt-Hatchett serves as Short’s mentor while she goes through Habitat’s home buyers program, which includes classes on financial literacy and several hundred hours of “sweat equity” volunteer work.

“Her’s is a story of being an overcomer,” Dube said. “She is a very impressive young lady, and she knew that she wanted a better life for her and her son, and she took the initiative to make that happen.”

Short’s home is the Lincoln Street project’s “hometown build” and is sponsored by the city, Clark Regional Medical Center, Central and Community Trust banks, First Christian and Salem Presbyterian churches, and many more.

And as the Lincoln Street project winds down, the realization is bittersweet for Habitat officials.

“When we started this project, it seemed like and was a large project to take on. There were six homes, and there were so many challenges. Then one by one, we saw these homes being built and families moving in. Now we are on the other side, and looking back at all the lives that have changed and all the families that have been empowered with home ownership is incredible,” Dube said.